AUSTIN (KXAN) -- In April of last year, 24-year-old Cristian Rangel's body was found in the greenbelt near a southeast Austin neighborhood 11 days after he was last seen at a south Austin Walmart, according to the Austin Police Department.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Man missing in south Austin found dead, police sayIn September, Rangel's family offered $9,000 in reward money to help bring about murder charges in the case.
This week, his mother Misty Moon spoke with KXAN in hopes of keeping her son's homicide in the public eye.
"When a piece of you is missing, it's hard to describe the emptiness that you feel," Moon said. "I feel angry that this person chose to take the life of my son and dispose of his body like he was nothing."
Police arrested Kamery Wooldridge, 31, for tampering with human remains. If the evidence supports it, police said, those charges could get elevated to murder.
'Putting together a puzzle,' homicide detective explains case challenges
Homicide Detective Patrick Reed is the lead on the Rangel case.
"Cristian was abducted and not found for about 10 days," he said. "[This] has made it challenging to get some forensic testing done."
Reed added that the state in which police found Rangel's body made it difficult to gather forensic evidence that could more clearly lead investigators to a cause of death or potential suspect.
That's why APD is hoping to gather more information from people who either saw Rangel at Walmart, or know more about how his body made it to the greenbelt.
Cristian Rangel, center, was found dead 11 days after he was last seen at a south Austin Walmart. (Courtesy: Misty Moon) Cristian Rangel, 24, with his mother. (Courtesy: Misty Moon)"Putting together complicated homicide cases is kind of like putting together a puzzle," he said. "If you're putting together a puzzle and you're just missing five pieces, you can still tell if it's a horse or a house. Often times, I feel like people think information they have is inconsequential, but when you start putting that puzzle together, it can help fill in those gaps and give us the complete picture."
Reed said the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) lab handles forensic evidence.
"The DPS lab runs the whole state of Texas so they have their own challenges as far as the timelines to get stuff back," Reed said, adding that extracting DNA evidence, in general, takes a long time.
'Everyone remembers where they were,' Rangel went missing day of the 2024 eclipse
Moon is confident someone in the public saw something that can help investigators.
"The day it happened was the solar eclipse day, April 8," she said. "Everyone remembers where they were at that day."
Moon said Rangel had an "infectious personality."
"He was loved by many. He struggled with some things, so he was very empathetic," she said.
Below is surveillance video from the Walmart Rangel was last seen.
How reward money works in these cases
On the onset, APD offered up to a $1,000 reward with information leading to investigators solving the case.
Over time, Rangel's family contributed an additional $9,000.
"There's no way of ever knowing if somebody who provides a tip through crime stoppers gets that money because of the way it's done anonymously," Reed said.
You can send a tip anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or by calling (512) 472-8477.
If a tip helps lead to an arrest or solve a case, APD will then submit a tip reward request to the Crime Stoppers Board, according to APD officials involved in this process.
The board is full of civilian volunteers, and they will decide whether to issue the award money.
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